


Stranded

by Sapless_Tree



Category: DanPlan, Danplan (Web Series), youtube - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Desert Island, Desert Island Fic, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Some Fluff, Stranded, Survival, Whump, just a little bit of everything here ngl, mainly these lads suffering tho, theres some lighthearted scenes too i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 00:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19800871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapless_Tree/pseuds/Sapless_Tree
Summary: Everything was happening so quickly. Orders shouted, frantic movements to ensure safety. Nausea. There were blurred moments of panic. Tossing things into their bags in hopes to preserve them and the flashing memories of the safety procedure lecture they’d been given heretofore the flight. They wished they’d paid more attention to it. The sound of wind rushing by-- fast, much too fast-- and the doomed feeling of plummeting and suffocating. Then, nothing.Or: Daniel, Stephen, and Hosuh end up stranded on an island and have to rely on their limited knowledge, sparse resources, and each other to survive.[COMPLETED]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the 'bigger project' I was working on. It's the main reason I haven't been doing many one-shots so I hope you do enjoy it. I've got quite a few chapters already totally done, so my update schedule should be pretty consistent. And uh, yeah that's all for now, enjoy!

The trip had been made many months in advance; as soon as Stephen had made the joke about going to Disney they had begun planning their trip. But Daniel had wanted it to be more than just a trip to Disney for them; he wanted it to be completely unforgettable, so he went to lengths to plan multiple stops-- saving money where he could-- he had planned all kinds of different activities along the way to Disney. 

He was especially excited about the scheduled bungee jumping he would definitely make Stephen do. But before they could do that, Daniel had arranged for the three of them to ride in a helicopter-- something they’d always wanted to do but (like bungee jumping and going to Disney) had just never got around to yet.

The three hadn’t packed much, just small carry-on bags that they could easily travel around with-- they were even small enough to bring along on the helicopter. They, of course, brought along a video camera and some extra batteries and external chargers for the batteries so that the whole trip could be documented. Stephen and Hosuh had both agreed the trip would be a good time to do a face reveal, they’d both been a little nervous but had reasoned that covering their faces for the whole length of their blog would be another long step in the editing process.

Enjoying the vague pressure of the elevation, Daniel was recording out at the view they got from the helicopter-- they were over the vast ocean, not much land in sight-- there was the occasional small island here and there, but for the most part there was just the cool blue of the water, glinting with the light of the sun. Daniel had planned to put some music in the background of the sight of the ocean-- periodically pointing the camera over at his friends to keep the recording from being boring. He was in the middle of some jab about how they were all so awkward in front of the camera when they heard it: a sort of heavy clunking sound followed by the panicked noises from the man piloting the helicopter.

The three shot concerned looks at one another before Stephen finally spoke up. “Is something wrong, what’s going on?”

It was hard to understand what the pilot was saying underneath the jargon, but they did catch “electrical malfunction,” and “emergency landing,” before they felt their stomachs drop with the sudden decrease of altitude-- it was ironically like being on a roller coaster, though much more life-threatening and frightening. It was an asphyxiating feeling, choking and dizzying. 

Everything was happening so quickly. Orders shouted, frantic movements to ensure safety. Nausea. There were blurred moments of panic. Tossing things into their bags in hopes to preserve them and the flashing memories of the safety procedure lecture they’d been given before the flight. They wished they’d paid more attention to it. The sound of wind rushing by-- fast, much too fast-- and the doomed feeling of plummeting and suffocating. Then, nothing.

\--------

The first thing Daniel noticed when he woke up was the pang in his head and in his shoulder. He was dazed and it took him a few moments to remember what had happened. It came back in a rush: the helicopter trip, the noise, the falling-- oh God, the falling. The next thing he noticed was the sun-- rather, the fact that he was definitely not in the helicopter anymore. He was laying, face-up, on what felt like sand.

He tried to lift his head up only to be greeted by a new wave of pain from his shoulder. He let out a groan, lowering he head back down unceremoniously onto the sand again. He closed his eyes and groaned again, waiting for the pain to subside. Someone was saying something.

“--n, Dan! Hey, are you okay?” Daniel looked best he could toward the source of the voice (mostly just letting his eyes wheel around until they found something other than sky) and saw Hosuh looking down at him. 

Daniel noticed the steady stream of blood coming from Hosuh’s nose and heavy bruising around his head and along parts of his face-- the darkest of the bruises resting just under his eyes. “Dan, are you okay?” He asked again. Daniel groaned once again, before trying to push himself upright, Hosuh bending down to help. 

“F-- fu-- Hosuh wait,” Daniel had only gotten himself propped up before the pressure was too much on his shoulder. “I think-- my shoulder-- I think something’s wrong.” And something was definitely wrong. Hosuh could visibly see the odd angle that Daniel’s shoulder was jutting out at as he gently helped Daniel lower himself back down.

“Okay, okay,” Hosuh seemed lost-- unsure of what to do and in pain himself. “I’m going to find Stephen and the pilot-- I’m going to go find help. Stay here,” he paused a second, “not that you could go anywhere, but-- just wait here.” Daniel heard Hosuh rush off, going to look for their friend and the pilot. Daniel hoped they were alive.

\--------

Finding Daniel was a miracle to Hosuh. He had been scared, confused, and alone when he woke up. 

He had pushed himself off of the beach-- having woken up face-down in the sand-- head pounding. He had taken a moment, staring at the bloodied sand and wondering whose blood it was. He had even said “oh, it’s mine” out loud when he finally realized it was dripping from his face. 

He’d stayed there for a moment, watching as his blood trickled gently onto the sand before he threw up-- he wasn’t sure why he did, but once he did, he started to piece together small bits of the crash through his fuzzy, throbbing thoughts. He finally pushed himself the rest of the way up onto his feet, feeling dizzy, and stumbled along the beach. Hosuh knew he was supposed to be there with someone-- no, two people, but for the life of him couldn’t place either name until he had noticed the familiar mop of hair and pained voice. 

Daniel’s shoulder looked pretty thoroughly dislocated, and Housh was not prepared to try to fix that-- he needed help. Despite knowing that the man that piloted their helicopter would know better what to do and how to help, Hosuh desperately hoped he would find Stephen.

He instinctively headed toward the smoke rising in plumes in the near distance-- the wrecked helicopter, most likely-- and hoped that Stephen hadn’t been trapped inside.

Swatting at bugs and trying to quell his dizzying nausea, Hosuh found he was right-- the helicopter was there, a fine smoke emitting from the thing. Approaching the wreck, it surprisingly looked somewhat intact. The propeller blades had been bent and crushed beyond fixing, and the glass of the windshield was shattered, but the body of the helicopter looked to be relatively put together save a few dents and ugly scratches here and there. That, and the fact that the whole thing had landed upside-down. 

Hesitantly, he rounded the side to check the cockpit, finding the pilot strapped to his seat looking ready to be dressed out. He dangled limply from the seat, blood dripping down from his head-- it had been bashed in somehow during the crash, leaving a bloody pulp of a mess where his face should have been. The man’s arms were dangling as well, blood dripping down and off the fingers, plinking onto the metal and shards of glass below. The bone of his left arm stuck out in multiple places, the surrounding skin looking swollen and gushy. Hosuh threw up at the sight and turned away as quickly as his slow-registering body would let him.

The pilot was dead, then. So where was Stephen?

Flashes of the pilot’s body forced their way into Hosuh’s mind, but as he stood, trying to comprehend it all the images of the pilot’s body seemed to more and more resemble Stephen-- what if Stephen was dead too? His breathing was shallow. Should he turn and check the cockpit again-- make sure it was the pilot and not his friend? Had Stephen been dangling next to the pilot-- Hosuh couldn’t remember anymore. 

“Hosuh?”

His head whipped up from the sandy floor he’d been staring at, seeing the familiar face come into view. Stephen didn’t look too worse for wear. There were some scrapes-- and one larger gash on his leg-- but otherwise, he seemed to be all right.

“Hosuh,” Stephen said again, approaching him, “Oh, uh, are you all right? Why are you crying?” Stephen’s eyes widened. “Where’s Dan?” Hosuh hadn’t realized he had been crying until Stephen had said something, but he was too overwhelmed by relief to say anything about it. Instead, he pulled Stephen into a hug, grateful that he was alive.

Hosuh’s silence worried Stephen, but he wrapped his arms around his crying friend anyway. “Where is Dan?” He repeated. “Oh my God is Dan--”

“No, no he’s alive,” he interrupted, hearing the sigh of relief from Stephen. “I just-- I thought... I saw the pilot and, and I thought that--” he couldn’t finish his sentence through the tears. 

“The pilot, what about the pilot?” He felt Hosuh shake his head ‘no’ and took that as a cue to stop talking about it. He stood there a moment, letting Hosuh get it out for a good few minutes. He was plenty uneasy himself; when he had woken up it hadn’t been too hard to recall the events that lead up to this for him. He remembered telling Daniel more than once to calm down as they dropped from the sky. There was a bit of glass that had gotten caught in his leg, but he removed it before getting up and walking through the thin forest, hoping to find someone-- coming across Hosuh and the wrecked helicopter. Hosuh began to quiet a little, so Stephen spoke again, “where did you say Dan was?”

“He’s on the beach,” Hosuh gave a wet sniff, trying to compose himself. He didn’t let go of Stephen, “his shoulder-- I think he dislocated it and I don’t know what to do.”

“We should head over there. He shouldn’t be alone.” He tightened their hug before letting himself out of it. “It’s going to be okay.” And Stephen sure hoped he wasn’t lying.

\--------

Daniel felt like he’d layed on that beach forever, just staring up at the sky, waiting for Hosuh (hopefully with Stephen and the pilot) to come back. It felt both so quiet and loud at the same time-- there wasn’t any sound that could have been a human, but Daniel could hear little crabs scurrying along the beach near his head and gnats flitting about. The sun seemed to make its own noise, rays buzzing as they bounced off the hot sand-- but maybe that was the gnats buzzing, not the sun. He finally heard someone coming his way.

“Dan!” It was Stephen’s voice, and he could hear the footsteps coming toward him quicken. “Oh, thank God,” he breathed, “Hosuh told me there’s something up with your shoulder?”

“Yeah,” Daniel winced, “I can’t move it.”

“I think I’m going to have to pop it back into place.” Stephen’s statement brought on protests from both other boys. What if he did it wrong and made it worse? Or if he only got it back in somewhat and Daniel was stuck dealing with a partially dislocated shoulder? Stephen heard their protests, right up until the last ‘Stephen, don’t!’ before he grabbed Daniel’s wrist and jerked the arm forward. 

There was a sickening pop followed by Daniel’s scream and a string of profanities. “It’s over, it’s over-- it’s okay Dan, it’s done-- it’s in,” Stephen tried to reassure his friend. It took only a minute or so before Daniel calmed down-- the pain subsiding again to about the level from before.

“That does feel a little better,” Daniel said shakily, breathing through the pain, “it definitely feels in place. Help me up?” Hosuh and Stephen bent down and helped Daniel get off the sand finally, minding his shoulder and subconsciously checking him for any other major injuries. He had some cuts and bruises, but his shoulder had been the worst of it. 

The three of them were then faced with the reality that they’d have to try to live. They’d done so many ‘can you survive’ scenarios before, so they had very basic ideas of what was important. But in their little games, there were no dislocated shoulders or raw fear. It was always: choose a, b, c, or d and we’ll see if you lived. Despite that, they knew that gathering supplies would be the best course of action.

“I...” Hosuh spoke up, pausing as he thought about the pilot and his gruesome end. Had he hung there long before he died? Hosuh could only hope it’d been quick for the man. “I don’t want to go back to the helicopter.”

“Why not?” Daniel asked, holding his shoulder so as not to move it around too much.

“Well, our pilot...” He paused again, the images forcing their way back into his thoughts, “...our pilot died, and he’s still in there,” he responded. There was a beat of silence, they knew that the pilot had likely made his landing as safe for the other three as he could, even if that meant his own life. 

“We have to get supplies if there are any,” Stephen reasoned, “and we should all stay together-- just in case.” He then added: “You don’t have to go in, but we shouldn’t split up.”

“Stephen’s right,” Daniel chimed in, “safety in numbers.” And so Hosuh-- not necessarily agreeing, but not wanting to be alone-- reluctantly went with, thinking about the bone and wet blood of the man the majority of the walk there.

When they showed up, both Daniel and Stephen were horrified at the sight of their pilot, bugs had begun to make a feast of his body, grouping on his face and the exposed bone on his arm, they ate away at the semi-coagulated blood; it seemed like moths to a flame-- a horrible, sickening, bloody flame. The two (Hosuh refused to look at the pilot again) had the horrid image burned into their minds. Bile rose in their throats, and the silence stretched on as they were motionless. They didn’t want to keep looking, but it was like a car crash-- so terrible they just couldn’t look away.

Ultimately it was agreed they couldn’t just leave him like that. Stephen, keeping his eyes off the cold, dead man, loosened him from where he was fastened, feeling sick at the heavy thud of his body. The bugs dispersed all around them in a swarm. Daniel-- using only his good arm-- helped Stephen drag the man out as Hosuh went to searching the now body-free cockpit, not wanting any part in the burial of the dead man’s body.

Daniel and Stephen dug a shallow grave for the man, just deep enough to lay him in and cover him. As they buried him under the ground they gave some silence as respect for keeping the three alive. They may not have known his name or his background, or really anything about him at all, but they were grateful for him. 

The cockpit was still coated with blood and smelled like death, but the three searched the helicopter until there was nothing left of it to search. They left the crash site after an hour or so with some materials: the seatbelts of the helicopter (they’d use them to make a sling for Daniel after cleaning the pilot’s blood off them), their bags-- containing some articles of clothing, a few snacks, and a couple of water bottles-- their miraculously intact recording gear, and a few large shards of broken glass for making a fire.

Heading back to the beach, they set up a small ‘SOS’ message with some rocks, large leaves, and the other brush along the sand. Stephen cleaned off his leg and wrapped it with one of the t-shirts they’d salvaged from the wreck as Daniel and Hosuh set up a pile of wood and dried, dead plants and attempted a fire. They couldn’t get it going due to the sun setting. Settling to just wash off the blood they were covered in from their injuries in the water, they called it a night. Things felt a little better with the blood washed off-- cleaner at least, for sure.

And as the three looked out on the stars, lying close together to keep warm, they began to realize: Oh, God-- this was real.


	2. Chapter 2

“Hello everyone,” Daniel looked into the camera he’d set up with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Today is day one of us being stranded out here, so far-- yeah we crashed and got stranded, by the way. We haven’t got a fire going since last night, but Stephen is working on that right now. And Hosuh is looking for more wood for us to burn.

“It looks like we might be here a little while, actually. The helicopter is totaled and our pilot… well, he didn’t make it.” Daniel was quiet a second before he continued. 

“I can’t help with much because I really messed up my shoulder. And I think Hosuh has a concussion, but Stephen got off pretty easy... why am I making this video?” Daniel sighed, “our recording stuff made it somehow. And I thought maybe it would be like— I don’t know… maybe it’ll make a good YouTube video,” he joked. “‘By the way, we crash-landed on an island and tried to survive while we waited for rescue, not clickbait.’ That’s too long probably, huh? I actually started doing it because it’s something, you know? Just to have at least one thing be normal.

“Well, let’s go see if they need some help over there.” He then leaned over and paused the recording, picking up the camera and getting up to help Stephen. He turned it back on when he got to Stephen.

“Need help, man?”

“You know what would be really helpful?” Stephen (who was frustrated and close to calling it quits) said, “if this stupid thing would just work!” He tossed the large shard of glass into the sand. “This sucks,” he added, sitting down next to the pile.

“Yeah, it does,” Daniel agreed, sitting next to him. 

“Are you recording right now?” Stephen asked.

“Yeah.”

“Turn that stupid thing off, Dan. I can’t believe you’re thinking about making a video right now.”

“Wasn’t that the plan?” Daniel asked.

Stephen let out an annoyed breath. “That was before we got stranded. That-- making a YouTube video should be the least of your worries right now!” Slowly, as he became more irked, Stephen raised his voice. “We don’t have a fire-- we don’t-- we’re not gonna have food soon! Does any of that worry you?” He was practically shouting at this point.

“Of course it does!” Daniel yelled back, still holding the camera. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t still record and try to make the best of things! You’re just frustrated and taking it out on me!”

“Yes, Daniel,” Stephen sneered, “I’m just taking it all out on you! Is that what you want to hear-- does that make you feel better? It couldn’t be that we could die out here and you’re making a YouTube video-- it couldn’t be that we have no fire and we can’t do a thing about it-- it couldn’t be that you’re pointing that damn camera in my face instead of helping-- noooo I’m just taking my anger out on you that’s all!”

“All right, all right you made your point,” Daniel said just as bitterly, “just calm down already.”

“Turn off the camera.”

“No, we planned on making a vlog, and I don’t want to have nothing to show for it. We’re lucky our stuff didn’t break, so I'm going to take advantage of it.”

“Daniel, just turn it off!” Stephen was yelling again.

“No!” He shouted back.

He started to take the camera from Daniel, “just give it to me, turn it off!”

“Stephen stop-- you’re gonna break it!” Daniel tried to keep a hold on it, but only using one arm he wasn’t as strong as Stephen. Stephen pulled the camera from his hand and turned it off, setting it down in the sand a little harsher than necessary. 

There were a few beats of silence, both seething quietly in their own anger and frustration. 

It was a few full minutes before Stephen spoke up again, much quieter than before. “Sorry.” Daniel nodded but said nothing. “I didn’t-- I didn’t hurt your shoulder, did I?”

“No.”

“I am sorry,” Stephen tried again, “you’re right, you know? I’m just really frustrated, and kinda worried too... I don’t think making the best of things was too bad an idea, really,” he said. He tried joking a little, hoping to lighten the mood: “I don’t think us arguing will make for a good vlog, though.”

Daniel was silent a moment before cracking a smile, “‘Dan and Stephen get into a fight, not clickbait.’” Stephen burst out laughing.

“So we good?”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Daniel smiled at him. “I’m sorry, too. I’m sure having the camera on you probably didn’t help anything,” he admitted.

“Eh, I think this’d make a cool video,” Stephen said, “who wouldn’t want to see three idiots trying to survive in the middle of nowhere, right? You think we should record a bit since we’re done fighting? That’s what we do with the prank videos, anyway-- to show that it’s all good.”

“Only if you want to,” Daniel replied.

Stephen picked up the camera and brushed the sand off before turning it on and pointing it at Daniel. “Well hello there, sir.”

“God, Stephen you’re literally the most awkward with a camera.”

“Shut up, Dan,” he joked, “just tell everyone you’ve submitted to me and vow to worship my corpse when we die out here.”

“Stephen is an idiot and I hope he dies first.” They both laughed.

“I’d eat Hosuh before I let you outlive me.”

“What is it with you and eating Hosuh?”

Stephen shrugged, “he’s less likely to fight back.”

“I physically can’t fight back, man,” Daniel said, motioning to his slinged shoulder with his good arm.

“Oh? Do you want me to eat you?”

“No! No-- I’m just saying--” he laughed again, “I don’t even know-- this is stupid.”

“You just gotta let them know you’re not mad at me anymore.”

“I will once you do,” Daniel teased.

Stephen rolled his eyes and gave a huffed laugh. “I am no longer mad at the stupidity that is Dan’s face.”

“Wow okay, love you too Stephen,” Daniel joked, earning more laughter from Stephen who went to turning the camera off and setting it back down (gentler this time) into the sand. They were quiet aside from the remnants of their laughter.

“I really do love you,” Stephen said after a moment.

“Yeah, I’m glad that it’s you and Hosuh I’m stuck out here with, not some random people that I don’t know.” Stephen hummed in agreement before the comfortable silence settled over them again. As they sat quietly, Daniel looked back at the pile.

“Can I try?” He asked, motioning to the glass.

“Knock yourself out,” he picked the glass back up and passed it to Daniel. He went at it for a good few minutes, hoping that somehow a fire would start, but after a while, he gave up as well.

“Hey Hosuh,” Stephen called at his other friend who’d been far enough getting materials for the fire to not have heard the little fight, “forget it, fire’s a bust.”

“Oh.” Hosuh came over and sat with the other two down in the sand, eyeing their pathetic pile of dead plants and the piece of glass they’d been using. “Well, what are we gonna do?”

“Isn’t morale everything?” Daniel asked, earning a few confused responses. “Look, we can’t be giving up so early in-- who knows how long we’re gonna be out here. So come on,” he said, “let’s go do something fun-- something stupid-- we can see who can make the best sandcastle, or try catching fish, or something. Just-- anything’s better than sitting here and feeling sorry for ourselves.”

“Yeah, you know what?“ Stephen said, “Dan actually has a good idea for once.”

“Thank you, Stephe-- wait... HEY!”

\--------

Stephen and Hosuh stood in the water about shin-deep, each holding a sharpened stick (well, as sharpened as they could get them with their limited resources, anyway) and keeping very still, hoping the fish would slow down a little once they were a little more comfortable with the two standing there. Daniel stood on the wet sand, camera in one hand, the other in his makeshift seat belt sling. 

“Come on guys!” He called at them, “you just gonna stand there?”

“You wanna get in here and do this?” Stephen called back. And when Daniel laughed, he responded with “that’s what I thought! You take care of the camera, just let us handle the fish!” 

“Okay, well get on with it, then!”

To put it lightly, the two were not very good at spearing fish-- not at all. Daniel filmed their antics for a good ten minutes before he stopped the recording-- hoping to save some battery-- and went to fiddling with the glass shard and the pile of plants again.

Stephen and Hosuh, as it turned out, were not only ‘not very good’ at hitting the fish, they downright sucked at it. They only missed, splashing the water and making the other fish there scatter for a bit before coming back over. Hosuh did end up crouching more, getting closer to the water and hoping that that would help him be more accurate in his aim, but he ended up just splashing Stephen. Stephen retaliated, splashing Hosuh back. It wasn’t too long before the two went to splashing-- soaking each other-- rather than actually getting fish. 

“Stephen, no,” Hosuh said, laughing, “it was an accident, stop splashing me!”

“No mercy!” Stephen joked back, continuing to hit the water. “It’s not like we’re gonna catch anything this way.”

Hosuh stopped splashing back, at this point he just protected his face, not wanting to get seawater in his mouth or eyes. “Yeah if only we had a net or something to make a net.”

Stephen had stopped then, too. “What if we used a t-shirt or something?”

“That’s actually a really good idea, we may have to rip it though so the net is big enough-- or we could make a fish trap; we just tie one end closed and put it where fish will swim in?”

“All of Stephen’s ideas are good ones,” Stephen stated playfully, “but a fish trap does sound good-- save our clothes from destruction.” They headed out of the water, both dripping wet, over to where they kept their bags and the few items they carried.

“Did you guys get anything?” Daniel asked from his place by the pile.

“Did you make a fire?” Stephen countered.

Hosuh interjected before the two could start to argue. “We’re going to try and make a trap to catch some, the stick thing wasn’t working out.”

“You guys want help?” He asked.

“Nah,” Stephen answered for them, “you keep trying to get the fire going while the sun is still up. Maybe we can even cook the fish.” The three hadn’t eaten yet that morning, hoping to put it off as long as possible to avoid having to go through and ration what little food they did have. It was just another thing that made their situation seem all the more dire.

“All right, good luck.”

Stephen pulled out two of their shirts and gave one to Hosuh. They began tying off the top of the shirt and sleeves, leaving the bigger hole as an opening for the fish. They then went back into the water and lowered their makeshift traps in, waiting for the fish to wander back over to them.

From Daniel’s perspective, the two looked pretty silly crouched in the water that way, so he grabbed the camera again and recorded them, giggling behind the viewfinder. 

Despite the lighthearted attitude he displayed, he really hoped they would be able to catch something-- their lives could be depending on it soon enough. A few minutes more of recording and quietly laughing at the two passed before Daniel headed over to the pile once again, knowing that Stephen was right-- he should be trying to get a fire going while the sun was up. It may have been a decent temperature in the day, almost cool even, but the night had been cold and miserable. It was another thing their lives could quickly become dependant on: that fire that refused to light. He’d debated trying the ‘bow-drill method’ that he’d talked about from their survival video they had made a year or so ago with Ann, but he didn’t have the first idea about how to go about making that. So ‘shard-of-glass-and-suffering method’ it was for now. 

“Daniel! Dan!” He could hear Stephen shouting at him, “Dan, we got one!” The two came back onto the sand by Daniel, Hosuh holding the dripping shirt with the fish in it. 

“Nice job guys, but I still can’t get the fire going,” Daniel said, “so I don’t know what we’re gonna do with it.”

They were all quiet for a time, unsure of what to do-- their little victory suddenly felt a little less great. There wasn't a way to cook the fish without a fire, and their fire hadn’t been going too well-- it didn’t seem like they would be able to boil water or cook or stay warm-- which was definitely a blow to the whole morale thing. 

“Maybe we should just make sandcastles,” Stephen said. Too bummed by the fire (or lack thereof) to decline, the three went back down to the wet sand to make little castles together. 

Daniel brought out the camera again, recording his two friends. It was pretty ironic-- how the sandcastles so juxtaposed their despairing moods. He stopped the recording a little while after their castles had been finished, and they went to mainly doodling in the sand and feeling hopeless. That’s not to say they didn’t have fun with one another-- they did enjoy each other’s company. But after a little while, they were all pretty hungry except Hosuh who had to go lie down because he was dizzy and nauseous. 

Their start wasn’t great, and between the small fight, lack of fire, and downheartedness of the three, the future didn’t seem to be anything but foreboding.


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey guys, day two here,” Daniel spoke at the camera, “still no fire. We did catch a total of three fish yesterday, but we don’t really have a way to cook them yet. We rationed out our food-- if you can call it that, it's just some granola bars and bottled water-- but it should last us two more days… including today, that is. So today and tomorrow. I don’t know what we’re gonna do if we can’t start a fire by then.” He paused, anyone watching wouldn’t really know what exactly was going through Daniel’s mind, but it was evident in his eyes the fear he felt just thinking about the moment their food ran out.

“I’m sure we can get a fire by then, right?” He said, trying to lighten the mood a little. “Morale isn’t too high right now. Stephen’s working on making our ‘SOS’ a little bigger since we have the time. Hosuh isn’t doing great either-- it’s definitely a concussion-- so he can only do stuff in short bursts for now. What sucks is that we didn’t crash with any pain meds or anything. Man, I can’t even imagine… We’re trying not to let him sleep too long at a time, I think I read once that that’s bad for someone with a head injury, not sure though.

“We haven’t made a shelter just yet-- none of us really know how to. But it’s been pretty nice out actually, so we haven’t needed one. It gets a little cold at night-- but the sky stays pretty clear. We should probably try to put something together soon though. 

“Our main priority is fire. I wish we just had some matches or something,” he laughed. “We’re probably going to head back to the helicopter and get more glass later-- see if some other pieces will work better... I hope so.” Daniel turned the camera off completely, opting to leave it by their bags today, hoping to avoid conflict.

The reality of it all had begun to really set in over just the past two days. Them waking up the second day, still covered in sand and slightly sunburnt at that point, was not the most pleasant thing. It brought on the inevitable ‘so it wasn’t a dream’ and the ‘is anyone even looking for us?’ 

“How’s it going?” Daniel asked, approaching Stephen.

“Better than the fire is,” he retorted, “I’m almost done actually-- I was just about to head back into the forest for some more rocks and stuff.”

“Cool, I’ll come with,” he glanced over at their other friend, who was lying in the sand, an arm over his eyes in an attempt to block out the glaring sunlight. “He doesn’t seem like he’ll be going anywhere.”

“Are you okay to carry stuff?” Stephen asked, eyeing Daniel’s sling.

“I’ll bring one of our bags and just carry stuff like that.” He replied. The two went over to their bags, moved all the contents of one into the other so that Daniel could bring the empty one along. They then went into the trees, grabbing whatever large rocks and other things they could find to finish their distress signal with.

Swatting away flies and other bugs, they filled the bag nicely, and Daniel mentioned his idea about trying some of the other shards of glass from the helicopter. 

“Oh, good idea,” Stephen replied and they headed toward the wreck. 

\--------

Overall their trip took them around forty-five minutes-- maybe a bit longer, it was hard to tell time without a clock or a watch. Really, they just reasoned that it couldn’t have been too long, because Hosuh didn’t seem to have moved at all since they left. 

Stephen finished up their signal with the materials they’d gathered as Daniel talked to him about trying to make their food last a little longer. Most of the ideas were dead ends though-- they were already stretching their rations thin as it was.

“Looks good,” Daniel commented once Stephen had finished, “it’ll be pretty hard to miss, I think. All we need is someone to fly overhead, and we’re sure to be found.”

“That’s pretty optimistic, don’t you think?” Stephen asked.

“What’s wrong with optimism?”

“Nothing’s wrong with it,” he paused, “do you think anyone noticed we’re gone yet?” His voice wavered a bit and there was a look on his face-- a look that made it clear he'd thought about it a lot. “The gang all knows we’re away, so they won’t be looking for us. And that company we were flying with was kinda sketchy-- do you think they noticed even?”

“They’re missing an entire helicopter, Stephen, I’m pretty sure they’d notice something like that,” Daniel laughed, trying to lighten his friend’s mood. But Stephen didn’t seem like he was having it. “Besides,” he started again, “if they haven’t noticed yet they definitely will by tomorrow-- they may’ve been sketchy but that helicopter was probably a big source of their income.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He was not convinced in the slightest. “It just kinda feels like we’re alone out here…” Stephen’s voice had grown quieter towards the end of his sentence, almost like he was afraid to admit it, not only to Daniel but to himself as well, “...you know?”

Stephen let himself be pulled into Daniel’s one-armed hug (careful of his shoulder) without protest and took the beat of silence to wrap his arms around Daniel in return. “Yeah, I get it…” Daniel said, then softly added: “I’m scared too, man.” 

The two of them stood there in silence for a few minutes, hugging and hoping the world would somehow just disappear-- that they’d all wake up from their crazy, mutual, shock-induced dream and land in the helicopter safely. No dead pilots or injuries or fires that refused to light; no makeshift slings or t-shirt fish traps or ‘SOS’ signals written out in the sand. Just the three of them on vacation, actually enjoying themselves and making a lighthearted YouTube video for their channel where they’d tease people about the ships that would never be and messed around with one another, that’s all. But it was good to admit they were afraid: afraid of being stranded, afraid of being faced with their own mortality, and afraid to be alone.

“We should probably check on Hosuh,” Daniel said, slowly easing out of their hug.

“Probably,” Stephen replied. As they walked over he spoke up again, “How's your shoulder doing, by the way?”

Daniel subconsciously brought a hand up to touch it at the mention. “It’s not too bad when I don’t move it around a lot. It kinda just aches.” Stephen hummed, not completely believing Daniel, but letting it slide while they checked on their other friend.

“Hey Hosuh,” Daniel said quietly, and when met with no response, he prompted: “how’re you doing?” 

“M’fine,” he replied, not moving his arm from over his eyes.

“You sure man?” Stephen asked. “You’ve been lying there for at least an hour.”

There was a beat of silence. “My head hurts. And it’s really bright out here.”

“You think water would help?” Daniel asked him, only to get a half-hearted shrug in response. “All right, get up. We’re gonna get you in the shade and get you some water and see if that helps, okay?”

“Maybe take the hair tie out too,” Stephen added, “it may take a little pressure off.”

Hosuh did as he was told, taking the hair tie out and (accepting the help from Daniel getting up when he’d staggered sideways and almost fallen over) followed them into the shade to rest a little while longer.

\--------

A few hours had passed before Hosuh was up again and ready to join in discussing the three’s priorities, making mentions of the shelter-- the one they didn’t have, that is-- and their food situation. They all had taken a shard of glass and were sitting around their pile, hoping that with more people trying they would get some kind of result finally.

“How long are we gonna do this?” Stephen asked, “we’ve been trying for two days now, what makes you think we’re gonna get this to light?”

“We kinda need it to live, Stephen,” Hosuh pointed out. It was morbid but true.

“Sure, doesn’t change the fact that there’s no fire here,” he replied.

Daniel gave them each a look and they both went quiet, knowing it wasn’t worth it to argue. Their conversation went back to the calm (albeit anxious) topic of their survival. It took a while, and the combined efforts of the three boys, but the pile that had been sitting there, pathetically mocking them for the past two days, had begun to emit a thin, steady smoke. To say they were excited was an understatement (“Oh my God it’s working! Guys--” “Stop-- don’t move, you’ll mess it up!”).

The little bit of smoke steadily grew until a tiny flame appeared at the center of the source. From there it just grew bigger, Daniel feeding it more dead plants and some larger twigs. There was laughter-- the three weren’t really sure why they were laughing. Maybe it was the extreme joy of having a fire or the overwhelming sense that finally, something was going right-- whatever it was, it felt good. 

Daniel pulled the other two into a celebratory one-armed hug, yelling “we have fire!” He got up and quickly grabbed their camera, turning it on and shouting again, “we have fire! We made a fire, guys! It’s-- we did that! Us!”

“Yeah,” Stephen said, almost with a hint of disbelief, “we did it.” Daniel pointed the camera over at Stephen once he’d begun to talk, asking if he had any words of wisdom to share.

“Well,” Stephen said, feigning a decisive sniff as he entertained Daniel’s bit, “making a fire is much better on moral than-- what-- what’d we mention in that video with Ann-- singing? Yeah, fire is way better than singing and dancing.”

“Ehh, I don’t know Stephen,” Hosuh said playfully, “I think you should sing and dance for us, too-- just to be safe.” He earned some laughter from Daniel behind the camera.

“Ohoho? Is that right?” Stephen asked, getting up and pulling Hosuh with him (ignoring the protests from the other). “Dan, you’re always the host, ya gotta tell us what to sing-- like the Jumanji thing, movie music!”

“I don’t watch movies,” Hosuh laughed, but Daniel was already calling out ‘Hunchback of Notre Dame’.

Belting the lyrics to ‘Bells of Notre Dame,’ Stephen made dramatic hand movements to go along-- it wasn’t dancing per se, but it was close enough.

“The Little Mermaid!” Daniel shouted at the end of the chorus.

“I’ve never seen The Little Mermaid,” Hosuh stated, earning a ‘how dare you’ and an over-dramatic gasp. 

“You,” Stephen spoke pointing at Hosuh, then slipped into song “poor unfortunate soul! In pain! In need!” He continued through it, being as theatrical as always and using the fire as a mock cauldron, commanding Daniel to sing for him at the end.

Instead of singing the section Ariel had in the movie, Daniel parroted his scream-opera from the Jumanji video, causing all three of them to break down in laughter.

“Is that a part of the movie?” Hosuh asked after they’d calmed down a bit.

“N-- what? No, there’s no screeching in The Little Mermaid,” Stephen said, laughing a bit at the thought.

“We seriously need to educate you when we get out of here,” Daniel said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. And it felt good to say ‘when’, rather than ‘if’ for once as they goofed off, just feeling grateful they had accomplished something big. After a time, Daniel put the camera away again.

Their excitement lasted well into the day. They stayed by their miracle in shifts, putting more twigs and branches in it to keep it from going out while the others would try to catch a few more fish. Daniel took extra shifts by the fire when his shoulder hurt too much and Hosuh had to take a few breaks as well, but they kept it going and got another two fish. 

And to celebrate what they’d accomplished they cooked the largest fish and shared it among themselves with one of the bottles of water.


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s day three,” Daniel said, “I think we’re a lot better off today than yesterday. We’ve got a fire,” he smiled, looking proud, “it took us a while, but we’ve finally got one going. We cooked all the fish we have so we can ration it all out-- our food supply should last four days rather than two now, but our water isn’t looking great.

“I think we can boil seawater and drink that, or hope for some rain. It actually might rain soon, the sky is looking pretty dark-- we should probably see about making a shelter today. Last night we planned on heading out a little further into the forest today. We’re gonna put a ton of wood on the fire to keep it going and to give us a way back to the beach with the smoke. Then we’re gonna go out with our bags and kinda just hope for the best. 

“Maybe we’ll find some edible plants or bananas or coconuts or something. Or there could be small animals. Hey, maybe we’ll find a whole civilization-- that happens in like every island survival show and movie, so maybe that’s an actual thing? I don’t know what we’ll do if we find other people. What if they speak some weird language we don’t know?

“I do hope we find people though, someone to talk to. I’m tired of just hanging out with Stephen and Hosuh,” he laughed, adding that he was joking and loved them. “I think we’re pretty lucky to have gotten stranded together since we get along pretty well... Don’t take that the wrong way I’m not glad we’re stranded!” He backtracked before laughing again. “I’m just-- if it had to be any two people in the world, I’m glad it’s them... Okay bye,” he said, ending the recording.

He packed the camera, extra batteries, and their external chargers into one of the bags where Hosuh had been putting their food and water into the bag with the extra clothes in it. Stephen’s bag was empty then-- they hoped to find things they could use and needed a way to carry it back.

Stephen threw one more large log onto their fire before he turned to the others.

“We ready to go?” And with the other two’s agreement, the three of them headed into the trees together. 

It wasn’t as cool out as it had been the previous days, it was hot and humid-- that gross and muggy in between you got before it rained in the summertime. Bugs flitted around them, trying to land and bite wherever they could-- that was another thing they wouldn’t take for granted when they were found: the miracle of bug spray. 

“If we just took all these bugs,” Stephen started, smacking at another one on his arm, “and collected all the dead ones we could have food forever,” he joked.

“That’s gross,” Hosuh retorted. 

“Yeah, I’d start eating random plants before I ate a bag of flies,” Daniel agreed.

“You’ve eaten crickets before though.”

“That’s different, Stephen! Those were meant to be eaten!” He swatted at a few of the bugs himself.

“Well all I’m saying is that--” but Stephen was interrupted by Hosuh who was pointing out a group of bushes that had little dark-colored berries. They didn’t look like something any of the three could identify, but they weren’t white or yellow and the leaves weren’t grouped in threes (things that they had surprisingly remembered from their survival video with Ann). 

“How do we know that they’re not poisonous?” Stephen asked.

“Just eat a few and if you die then it’s probably--” Hosuh began to joke, earning a playful punch from Daniel.

“No, I read this thing somewhere once that if you rub it on your skin and it has no effect then you can like, put it to your lips and if nothing happens still it should be good. But if it has a bitter taste or seeds, it’s probably still poisonous,” Daniel said. 

“Ohoho, look at you Mr. Survival,” Stephen teased, eliciting a ‘shut up’ from Daniel.

Hosuh volunteered to test them out for the other two, though there was some discourse about it. Both the others insisted that they should be the ones to do it. In the end, Hosuh was the one to test out the little berries. He rubbed some on his forearm and waited a few minutes. The exposed skin became red and irritated pretty quickly, an angry rash forming underneath the stray juices from the berries. 

“So maybe we don’t eat these,” Hosuh said, trying to wipe them off his arm, but just getting it all over his hand as well. 

“No, really Hosuh, what clued you in?” Stephen said sarcastically. Daniel was mid-eye-roll at Stephen when he noticed something at the tops of some of the trees.

“Guys, look!” He was pointing up with his good arm, Stephen and Hosuh following his gaze, “coconuts!”

There was a lot of excitement-- maybe not as much as when the fire had finally lit-- but there was still quite a bit; enough so that Stephen gave each of them a quick hug before immediately trying to make his way up the tree to the two coconuts.

“Oh my God, Stephen you better be careful,” Daniel said. Stephen responded by calling Hosuh over and asking him to help boost him, knowing Daniel wouldn’t be able to with his shoulder. Once he’d gotten a substantial way up-- high enough for Hosuh not to be able to reach and help him up anymore-- Daniel and Hosuh took to staying underneath Stephen, ready to catch him if he fell, and continuously calling up at him to be careful. A few times even suggesting he just come down-- it had grown windy and the clouds darkened considerably, looking ready to burst at any second.

The sky cracked, lightning streaking across it and rain followed soon after. The temperature seemed to nosedive, getting colder than the nights had been.

“Stephen get down from there, it’s not safe!” Daniel yelled over the wind that was picking up.

“Dan, it’s okay! I’m so close!”

“Stephen, really!” Hosuh chimed in, “It’s not worth falling and getting hurt, come on we’ll get them after the storm!” But Stephen ignored them, closing the last few inches between him and the drupe. Struggling, he managed to get one a little loose-- it moved around a bit, but it wouldn’t come out. “Get down, Stephen!”

The wind was growing stronger, along with the rain; it was sharp, feeling like pebbles were being flung at them, or like little blades scraping across their skin. Lightning flashed across the darkened sky again. 

“I got one-- I got it, guys catch it!” Stephen shouted down, forcing the coconut the rest of the way out of its place in the tree. 

“Okay,” Daniel said as Hosuh caught the drupe, “we got one, now come down here-- the camera’s gonna get wet!” He had been covering the closed bag as well as he could, hoping the best for their recording gear. Stephen gave the second one a test pull, seeing if maybe it could come down easy, but it was to no avail. Reluctantly, Stephen agreed to make his way back down the tree, but it was slippery and the rain and wind definitely weren’t making it any easier to get down safely. 

He had been about halfway down the tree when his foot slipped, and he slid rapidly the rest of the way down, falling directly on top of Hosuh. If it weren’t for the increasingly worsening storm it might have even been funny. Once the two gathered themselves, getting back up, Stephen looked at his shaking hands. They were bleeding and splintered from having held his hands around the tree as he slipped-- the deep gashes spewing crimson that was quickly washed down his arms by the rain. It made the wounds seem worse and got blood everywhere.

“Are you okay?” Hosuh yelled over the force of the rain and wind. The sky lit up again and the thunder roared at them. Stephen nodded and suggested they find somewhere to stay dry.

“The helicopter,” Daniel said, “we can stay there until this lets up a bit.” The others’ agreement was lost to another boom of thunder. They made their way quickly to the wreck, ducking inside and hoping it would keep them somewhat dry. It worked well enough in that regard, but the pilot’s bloodstains were accentuated in the flashes of lightning, and the whole place had a faint coppery smell. Whether that was from the pilot’s body having been there, or the steady pool of blood Stephen was making underneath himself, they didn’t know. The rain was louder there, bouncing off the metal noisily, and the thunder seemed to rock the whole wreck. 

Taking one of the shirts out of the bag (they had remained only somewhat dry), Hosuh ripped it into strips and helped Stephen with his bloodied hands, pulling out what large bits of splintered wood he could and wrapping the gashes. Daniel checked their camera. It was a little wet but looked like it would still work.

The blood soaked through the makeshift bandages almost immediately, but there was hardly a thing they could do about it without using more of their materials. It was settled they would decide what to do about it a little later-- when it was easier to talk-- and at that time, they’d just focus on waiting out the rain together, keeping close to each other for warmth.


	5. Chapter 5

It had rained the whole day, and well into the night-- it’d been long enough that the three had decided after they’d eaten to do their best setting the place up and slept in the wrecked helicopter that night. 

The cold, wet, bloodied metal of the helicopter was much stiffer than the sand. It was a lot more unwelcoming-- more grisly, too. The three did their best with nothing really soft, mostly just piling on one another and trying to find the best place to support Daniel’s shoulder and get comfortable enough to sleep.

In the morning, they had been in for an unpleasant surprise (more than the stiff and aching muscles of their uncomfortable rest). Due to having buried the pilot in such a shallow grave, the heavy rain had uncovered the decaying and muddy body. His decay was so far along he looked more like a mass of flesh and mud and bloody bones. All three of them wanted to be sick-- and Hosuh was, Stephen nearly followed suit-- before they did their best covering the body up again without touching or looking at him as much as possible.

They spent a moment in quiet, respecting again the man that had saved their lives. They then headed back to the beach, resolving to assess the damage the storm had done there.

“Hey everyone, day four here,” Daniel said once he’d gotten the gear set up again. “There was a pretty nasty storm, so our trip in the forest didn’t go too great, and now our fire’s out-- that really, really sucks.

“Everything’s too wet, so we probably won’t have a fire again for a while. Our food will last three days, not taking into account the coconut Stephen got for us yesterday-- and he cut up his hands doing it, too-- I don’t know how we’re gonna open it and I don’t know how long it’s gonna last. One step forward, two steps back I guess.” He sighed. Daniel had felt like they were going so well, but there’s something to be said about letting one good day lead a person into a false sense of security.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do. We might head back into the forest to get the other coconut we couldn’t yesterday, I know we’re gonna need to take a closer look at Stephen’s hands first though. Maybe we’ll try to catch more fish, but I can’t imagine too many would be by the shore after a storm like that. 

“Or maybe we’ll look into doing something about that shelter-- sleeping in the helicopter wasn’t great; I’m sore all over and I’m sure Stephen and Hosuh are too... All right, that’s it for now, I guess,” Daniel ended, then put the recording gear away.

Stephen and Hosuh were working on fixing the ‘SOS’ since the storm had knocked it around, Stephen looking pained as he did. Daniel joined them, hoping to get it done faster and see how bad Stephen’s hands were. The other was just too stubborn to not help with the signal. first It didn’t take too long, they’d already had the materials they’d just needed to put them back in place.

When they finished the signal, the three of them agreed they needed food before they could do much else. So they went over by their bags and pulled out some food to have breakfast together. They were on their last water bottle; it was shared between the three of them as they ate. The thoughts of their newfound lack of water throughout the meal hung heavily on them. They all thought about it, but none of them wanted to be the one to bring it up-- they’d have to go back into the forest to look for fresh water eventually, but they also desperately needed something to lift their spirits.

“I miss good food, man,” Daniel said suddenly, breaking the awkward (and once again despairing) silence.

“Yeah, me too,” Stephen agreed.

“I really miss being able to actually cook,” Hosuh chimed in.

Daniel hummed, “you know what? I would kill for apple pie right now.” 

“I will never take the wonders of caffeine for granted again,” Stephen said, laughing.

“That and running water,” Hosuh said, earning a few ‘yesssss’s’ from the others, “using a toilet again would make me very happy. And so would a sink, somehow I don’t think washing our hands in the seawater really does much.”

“I want to shower, that’ll probably be the first thing I do when we get out of here,” Stephen said.

“When we leave here,” Daniel said, “we’re all gonna go shower, use a real toilet, and wash our hands. Then, we’re going to the nearest buffet.” He elicited a groan of agreement from Stephen.

“What about nearest hospital?” Hosuh countered, “I’m sure we should get stuff looked at professionally, just in case.”

Daniel shook his head, “I refuse to let the first food I have leaving this place be hospital food. That’s hardly a step up!” They laughed before falling quiet again. “But speaking of, we should probably take a look at your hands now, Stephen.”

“Yeah, okay.” Daniel and Hosuh helped Stephen unwrap the cloth from his hands, pulling off whatever congealed blood had tried to scab overnight. Stephen winced at the feeling but knew they had to come off. Leaving them as they were would be a one-way ticket to a nasty infection.

In the light of the day (and a clearer one, at that) they could see several pieces of the wood still stuck in his hands. Trying his best not to hurt Stephen further, Hosuh (with steadier hands from drawing so much) delicately pulled out any of the smaller splinters of wood he could see. Not having his glasses and dried contacts having long since been removed and forgotten in the sand somewhere, Hosuh did his best trying to find all of the splinters while Daniel went and washed out the strips of the t-shirt in the water.

“Is that all of them?” Hosuh asked, eyeing Stephen’s hands for any small pieces of wood he’d maybe missed.

“I think that’s good, yeah. Thanks, man.”

“We should clean it out, too,” Hosuh added.

“With the seawater?”

“Well, we don’t really have any more bottled water, and we don’t have a fire to boil any water either, so…” The threat of dehydration was fresh in their minds again.

“Right, right.” The two made their way over to where Daniel was, Stephen, letting his hands down into the water. Hosuh held a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he hissed in pain at the contact. He quietly let out a string of curses as he moved them around, gently encouraging the dead blood to come off rather than rubbing it painfully off himself.

When they had finished both washing Stephen’s hands and the now blood-stained t-shirt strips, Daniel and Hosuh helped him wrap his hands back up, instinctively doting on the gashes like the mother hens all three of them have been guilty of being at one time or another.

“Is it too tight?”

“You’re sure we got all the splinters out?”

“Look, guys,” Stephen finally said, “I’m fine now-- they’re just cuts.”

“You shouldn’t use your hands for a little while; you should let them heal before you try to do a lot,” Hosuh said, Daniel, agreeing with him.

“What about fishing?” Stephen asked, “and the coconut we left-- the one we have to open, too. And we were gonna work on a shelter today--”

“Stephen,” Daniel interrupted, “we’ll figure it out, okay? Just calm down. It’s going to be fine, but you need to let that heal.”

“Yeah…” Stephen ran his fingers through his hair, breath picking up at the thought of all the things they hadn’t done yet-- all the things he wouldn’t be able to help them with. “Shit...” He winced at the pain the motion through his hair brought. He just needed to calm down. “Shit,” he said again, more definitively this time.

There was no way they’d be able to get enough fish to feed themselves very long without him what with Hosuh needing to rest every few hours and Daniel only using one arm. Plus there was the fact that there’d be nothing by the shore right after the storm the day before. Stephen felt it becoming harder to breathe, and Daniel seemed to be saying something, but he couldn’t hear what.

They needed as much help as they could get-- he shouldn’t have to sit off to the side. He needed to help, he needed to be there for the other two, and, oh God, he needed to breathe. His lungs were screaming and he couldn’t get a proper breath in. It hurt. No-- it burned. How were they going to make a shelter with only Hosuh able to carry heavy things? And even he shouldn’t be doing that just yet. Plus the water had run out. What were they supposed to do about that with no fire?

It sounded like everything was underwater: murmuring and soft; Stephen’s eyes stung and the forms of his worried friends in front of him began to blur. Stephen screwed his eyes shut. Something was touching him-- something touching his shoulders. Through the muffled sounds he thought he could hear counting. He tried to focus on it.

“--wo, three, four...” Then a word after it: “hold. One, two, three-- just like that-- four, five, six, seven. Now out…” 

Stephen did as the voice instructed, breathing in like a drowned man and releasing just as intensely. He kept pace with the counting, the sound becoming clearer as Hosuh’s voice. Opening his eyes, he was able to see straight again, and it was Hosuh holding onto Stephen’s shoulders as Daniel watched on worriedly, looking ready to help if something went wrong.

“In again,” Hosuh said, beginning to count once more. They spent a few minutes like that, Hosuh counting up to four, then to seven, then to eight, and Stephen following along as he slowly started to feel better. 

When Hosuh stopped counting he waited a moment, making sure Stephen could keep the even pace before he spoke again. 

“Are you all right?”

Stephen nodded shakily, swallowing thickly and finding his voice. “Yeah… sorry, this is stupid--“

Hosuh pulled Stephen into a hug, “No it’s not,” he said. There was no room for argument in his voice-- it was simple but firm and reassuring. No, it wasn’t stupid. “We’re going to be okay, I think. We’ll do our best. And you’ll still be able to help, but we can’t let you hurt yourself more trying to help out.” 

Stephen merely gave a small nod of his head.

“I…” Stephen shifted a bit where he stood, feeling his knees starting to give out, “...I think I need to sit down.” And without any warning after that, Stephen let his legs buckle, Hosuh guiding him gently down, still holding him even as they sat down. Stephen felt like his heart would beat out of his chest, casually jumping out and splattering onto the sand for all to see. In another circumstance he might’ve found the thought funny in some sickening way-- just imagining his frantic heart throw itself out of him, maybe it’d come out with little legs and dance for him, wouldn’t that be something?

“Hey, hey Stephen,” Housh cut into Stephen’s thoughts, sounding urgent again, “you gotta keep breathing, okay?” He hadn’t realized he’d stopped. Stephen silently tried to calm himself down, matching his breathing to Hosuh’s. Through the hug, he could feel Hosuh mouthing something to Daniel, he felt him pause (likely getting an answer), then mouthing something at Daniel again.

“How’re you doing now?” Hosuh asked once Stephen was breathing normally again.

“Better, I think...” Stephen replied, “tired though.”

“Yeah? Why don’t you stay here and rest a little bit while Dan and I head into the forest to find some water? Does that sound okay?”

“Okay.”

“You’re sure?” Hosuh asked.

“Yeah, we need water, and-- and I can’t really help there--”

“--you’ll be able to soon,” Hosuh reassured, hoping not to set Stephen off again. “Don’t worry, we won’t be gone long. Just try and take a nap maybe?”

Actually, Stephen thought, a nap sounded great at that moment. “Yeah, all right. Good idea.” Slowly letting himself out of their hug, Hosuh guided Stephen to a lying position.

“You need anything?” He asked.

“No… I think I’m okay.”

Hosuh stood back up and took his place by Daniel, who had stayed quiet for most of the ordeal. “Well, if you do end up needing something, just yell for us. We’re not going to go too far, so we’ll still be able to hear you, okay?”

“Okay,” Stephen could feel himself beginning to drift off-- he hadn’t realized just how exhausted he was.

“We’ll see you in a bit, Stephen,” Daniel said, grabbing the bag filled with the emptied-out water bottles to bring along with him. 

“See you, guys.”


	6. Chapter 6

The sun stayed hidden behind the clouds that had been left behind by the storm; it was nothing threatening but it kept the warmth of the sun from hitting Daniel and Hosuh as they trekked through the forest, hoping to find a creek or stream somewhere. The bugs didn’t let up, however. It might not have been too warm, but it was humid and wet out. 

The two took to collecting drops of water here and there that slid off of large leaves, hoping that it wouldn’t be the only water they found. Having been so preoccupied with the situation with their food, the security of the fire, and how screwed over the storm had made them, they hadn’t taken into too much account their dwindling water-- in hindsight, it was a stupid mistake. A grave and stupid mistake. 

“Would you rather never be in traffic or never get sick again?” Daniel asked suddenly.

“What?”

“I can’t take the silence anymore, man,” Daniel said, “I just-- Stephen really freaked out and I couldn’t-- I don’t know… I didn’t really feel like I helped, it’s--”

“I’d rather never be sick again,” Hosuh cut in, knowing Daniel just needed a distraction. He’d be lying if he’d said he wasn’t looking for something to distract himself, too. They were both pretty on edge. “Traffic is just bad for a few hours usually, being sick can last for days.”

“Yeah, true.”

“What about you-- no traffic or never being sick?”

Daniel hummed in thought, making his way carefully past a fallen tree (not before checking if any fruits had been on the tree when it fell, no luck though, some animal must have eaten them), “probably the same. As much as traffic sucks, being sick is definitely the worst.”

“Would you rather always have to wear jeans or always wear shorts?” Hosuh asked, following Daniel past the tree.

He thought about it for a moment before responding, “I think shorts.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, jeans can get pretty uncomfortable if you wear them all the time.”

“What about when you get cold?” Hosuh asked.

“Blanket.”

“You’re just gonna start carrying a blanket everywhere you go?” Hosuh laughed, Daniel, joining in.

“Yeah, why not? Why what would you choose?”

“Jeans, I guess, I already wear them a lot, anyway.”

“How about when you get too hot?” Daniel asked, mirroring Hosuh’s question.

“Well…”

“Also, just imagine sleeping in jeans. There are enough different kinds of shorts that you could find something comfortable enough to sleep in.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right, I definitely don’t want to sleep in jeans,” Hosuh said, laughing again.

They went back and forth with different questions, both grateful to be thinking of something other than what would happen if they couldn’t find some clean water and worrying about Stephen.

The walk became more strenuous as they went further in. The sand slowly became dirt, while tree roots, rocks, and plants obscured the floor more and more-- there really never was a discernible path to follow in the first place. Their muscles protested the trek, not used to the exertion of hiking an uneven path and doing so with no water, at that. No water, and varying injuries. 

For a few hours, the two went along all right, if a bit arduously, but Hosuh began to slow. He merely followed behind Daniel blindly, not seeing or thinking about what was in front of him due to the pain that had suddenly ripped through his head. He’d stopped giving full responses to Daniel’s questions, opting for just a few words and the occasional breathy, pained laugh. It was after the second forced laugh that Daniel stopped and turned.

“Are you okay, Hosuh?” He asked, taking in the way Hosuh seemed to squint against the sunlight, brows furrowed involuntarily in pain. “You don’t look so great.”

“I… actually, can--” he paused for a moment, seemingly trying to gather his thoughts, “--can we stop here... for a minute?” 

“Yeah, of course.”

At that statement, Hosuh let himself drop unceremoniously to the ground with his head in his hands, trying to will the stabbing in his skull away. It dulled, but Hosuh choked back a sob when a fresh wave of pain hit him. 

“Dan,” he whispered miserably, his voice not daring to go louder and grate against his sensitive ears.

Daniel knelt down to be eye-level with the other. “Can I help-- what do you need me to do?”

Hosuh pressed his face against Daniel’s chest-- trying to block as much light from his eyes as possible-- and muttered something that sounded like “it hurts.”

“I know, man,” he said, using his good arm to rub comforting circles on his friend’s back, “I know.”

They stayed like that for a while, silently sitting on the ground of the forest and letting their exposed flesh get bit up by bugs. Transiently, the headache ebbed into a dull ache-- enough so that Hosuh was able to pull his face off of Daniel. Instantly, he brought his hand up to his head, as if to stop some movement despite him not having moved his head much.

“You dizzy?” Daniel asked, keeping his voice quiet for his friend’s sake.

“Yeah,” Hosuh replied lamely, closing his eyes (much less urgently than before) again, “everything’s spinning.”

“Just take your time. We can keep going whenever you’re ready,” Daniel reassured.

“What were we doing?”

“What do you mean?” Danieli gave a concerned look at Housh, and despite the other not looking back at him, he was fairly certain Hosuh genuinely didn’t know what they were doing out in the forest anymore. “We were looking for water. You remember?”

“Oh, all right.” The response alarmed Daniel further-- Hosuh hadn’t even directly addressed the question.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Uh-huh, I’m just a little dizzy still.” 

The two waited for the dizziness to pass before they stood again; Hosuh’s vision went dark as he stood too fast, but it cleared as soon as it had come. There was near-nothing left of the stop they made aside from a persistent throbbing Hosuh’s skull, and the worrying fear Daniel felt.

\--------

“How are you keeping it together so well?” Hosuh asked at one point. He and Daniel had filled one of the bottles about a third of the way with the drops from the leaves, but not much progress had been made aside from that-- no water source had been found, and no fruits or other food had been either. Daniel had been hungry for a little while at that point, but Hosuh seemed to have no appetite. It didn’t matter either way since all the food and extra clothes were with Stephen on the beach.

“What’re you talking about?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know… you seem to be holding up really well even with your shoulder and all, and I-- it’s like-- everything just feels so far away and foggy, and obviously Stephen isn’t doing great… how’re you so... collected?” 

“I wouldn't say I’m all that put together. I mean,” Daniel paused, looking almost guilty, “with Stephen… I just froze, man. I didn’t know what to do-- I don’t know what to do. We’ve got barely any water, we’re low on food, and at this point screw the shelter-- none of us would even know where to start with that.”

“Yeah, you’re right... You think anyone’s coming for us? Someone has to have noticed we’re gone by now, right?” Hosuh gave Daniel a hopeful look, wanting reassurance that, yes, someone had noticed their absence and would be coming for them any day now. That they’d find water and food, that their injuries would heal easily, and that everything would be just fine.

“I’m sure there’s someone looking for us,” Daniel said, feeling much less of the optimism he had given Stephen two days ago. The two went quiet as they continued to make their way through the dense trees, carefully maneuvering over jutting roots and uneven rocks.

“Dan?”

“Yeah?”

“If someone’s looking for us, why haven’t they found us yet?” 

Daniel didn’t answer at first, thinking about the question himself. If anyone had noticed that they were gone, then why hadn’t they come? Were there search parties? Missing persons reports? Did the gang back home know that something was wrong, or did they just think the three were still enjoying their vacation? The company had to know their helicopter was missing-- the trip was only supposed to last a few hours. So where were they? Did they care? Did anyone even care-- did anyone even know?

“I don’t know, man,” Daniel settled on, “maybe they’re just having trouble finding us.”

“You really think that?” Hosuh asked.

“Maybe… I’m not sure.”

Silence fell over them once again and they were both left to their own thoughts.

The sun crept across the sky, getting closer and closer to being directly overhead, and it was then that Daniel had suggested that the two head back to the beach. Despite having found nothing, they were exhausted, Daniel was hungry, Hosuh needed to lay down, and both were eager to check up on Stephen. So they turned and headed back in the direction they came, disheartened and tired.

\--------

“Hey there,” Stephen spoke into the camera. He had woken up a few hours after falling asleep but found that Daniel and Hosuh were not back yet. “Dan and Hosuh aren’t here right now and I can’t really do much while they’re gone since I scraped up my hands. I don’t really know what to say exactly… I just see Dan talking at you every morning and thought maybe it’d be a good idea for me to do it, too?

“I’ve kinda let everything that’s happening get to me, I guess,” Stephen admitted, treating the camera like a therapist of sorts, “I’m just so worried and stressed out because as much as I don’t want to die out here… I don’t want to lose them either, you know?

“I feel like nothing’s going right, and whenever we do manage to do something good it gets messed up. Seems we really can’t survive going to Disney and having fun, huh?” He joked, suddenly feeling self-conscious at the lack of people there with him. 

“Dan says Hosuh and I are really awkward in front of the camera, but I think it’s easier when you just imagine it as another person-- a really quiet and easy to talk to kind of person. He can’t really talk though because he’s super awkward in front of you too, and he knows it... I’m getting way off track, aren't I? If we do get out of here and end up posting this stuff, maybe cut this part out, Dan?” Stephen then turned the camera off, noting the battery getting low-- he was glad that they’d brought batteries and external chargers.

Stephen let himself drift off for a while again, but was only able to sleep for another twenty minutes before he woke up. 

“They’ve been gone for a while, don’t you think?” He asked the camera. He knew full well it was off, but liked the feeling that someone was there with him. “I wish I had a watch or something-- I don’t even know how long it’s been since I was asleep.” 

He looked up at the sky, mumbling to the camera about it being bright.

“When the sun’s above you that means it’s about noon, I think. It’s pretty cloudy still so maybe it’s earlier... or later. I hope they’re not hurt or lost or anything.” The camera stayed silent. 

“Of course you wouldn’t mind it too much would you?” Stephen asked the camera, pointedly. “Wouldn’t have to worry about Dan jostling you around so much, sure, but who’s gonna clean your lens when it's all sandy? I sure as hell won’t.” The camera, again, stayed silent.

“You know, you’re not really the best conversationalist, I feel like you’re not even trying here.” Stephen looked at the camera for a few moments as it was, predictably, silent. “I’m talking to a camera,” he sighed. Carefully picking it up, Stephen brought the camera down the beach with him closer to the water. They both stared emptily at the sea, neither making a sound until Stephen began to quietly sing “How Far I’ll Go” to himself to keep from making nonsensical conversation with a camera. 

\--------

Stephen had made his way back up the beach and was watching the clouds (occasionally pointing out some of the shapes to the camera) that had darkened some when he heard the other two finally coming out of the forest. 

“Oh, you guys are back,” Stephen greeted.

“Yeah,” Daniel responded as Hosuh let himself drop to the sand and laid down, covering his eyes with his arm. “How’re you doing?” Daniel asked, sitting next to Stephen.

Stephen threw a worried glance at Hosuh, before looking to Daniel curiously, earning a shrug and a mouthed ‘head.’ “Better. It was pretty boring while you guys were gone-- did you find water?”

“No,” Daniel sighed, “we got like half a bottle filled with raindrops off plants, but that’s it.”

“Really?” Stephen asked, the other’s nod confirming it. “Well, we’re pretty screwed, huh?”

“Yep,” Daniel drawled, letting it sink in. “What are we gonna do, man? I don’t-- I don’t know what to do anymore,” he brought a hand to his face, desperately trying not to let the frustrated tears gather in his eyes. “We don’t have water. Water, Stephen. We couldn’t find anything-- there’s nothing.” A few stray tears silently fell as he spoke, but he was quick to wipe them away.

A pregnant silence fell over them, Daniel’s sniffs being the only sound between the two. Stephen placed a hand on Daniel’s knee, doing his best to make it seem comforting. “We’ll figure something out.”

“And if we can’t?”

“We can drink your tears,” Stephen joked. Daniel gave a half-hearted smile, appreciating the thought, but not feeling better about the situation as he rubbed a few more from his eyes. “Do…” Stephen began, breaking the awkward quiet again, “do you need a hug?”

“Actually… yeah.” Stephen complied, hugging his friend; Daniel merely leaned into it, periodically wiping the tears from his face. “Can we eat?” He asked after a while, “I’ve been pretty much starving for the past few hours.”

“Sure, yeah, I’m hungry too, anyways,” Stephen replied, grabbing the bag with the fish in it.


	7. Chapter 7

“It’s day five everyone,” Daniel said to the camera. “You know that thing? Murphy’s Law-- that everything that can go wrong will? Yeah, really feeling it, thanks, Murph. Stephen says he’s not feeling right, and he’s a little warm. I just hope it’s because his hands are healing, not because he’s getting sick… That’s a thing right? A low fever when open wounds are healing? I hope for his sake it is...

“We’ve got two day’s worth of food, half a bottle of water, and a coconut none of us know what to do with. No fire, no shelter, and a low chance of there being fish by the shore today. Not to mention that it’s gotten really cloudy, so we couldn’t make a fire even if our materials were totally dry. I’m holding out hope that it’ll rain soon-- that way we can at least have more water. 

“We haven’t had any water since... yesterday morning I think it was, so we’re already a little dehydrated. We’re trying to save what we have for when we really need it,” he explained. Daniel ran his fingers through his hair, looking away from the camera a moment, before facing it again. “I’m worried,” he said, and left the recording at that, shutting the camera off. He looked over and watched the other two as they finished cleaning and re-wrapping Stephen’s hands.

“Hey, Dan, Hosuh and I were talking and we think we should try to get that coconut open today-- there’s water or milk or whatever inside it, right? We’d have something to keep hydrated with, then,” Stephen said as he and Hosuh made their way back over to Daniel.

“All you’re gonna be doing is taking it easy,” Daniel said, interrupting when Stephen opened his mouth to protest. “--no, seriously, we don’t need you getting sick. There’s going to be nothing we can do to help you.”

“I’m not that warm,” Stephen grumbled. Daniel pressed the back of his hand to Stephen’s forehead, giving Hosuh a decisive look.

“But you do feel warm,” he said with a nod, “and that’s enough. If you really get sick we don’t have a lot of water, we don’t have anything to lower a fever with, and we don’t have medicine. So we really need to do whatever we can to keep you from getting worse.”

“Yeah, all right, fine,” Stephen said, “I’m just gonna be in the shade over there, then,” he added, heading off to sit in the shade that the trees provided a bit further up the beach. Daniel grabbed the coconut that had been kept in one of the bags and at first began trying to pry the husk off, giving it few good whacks and attempting to peel like an orange skin.

“Dan,” Hosuh said, “I don’t think that’s going to work.”

“You’re right,” Daniel replied. “We need something harder to hit it with. Grabbing a decent-sized rock, Daniel instructed Hosuh to hold the coconut in place on the ground. 

“You better not hit me with that,” Hosuh said, dangerously eyeing the rock as Daniel brought it over his head and brought it down on the drupe. Hardly a mark was left by the impact. Daniel brought it up again and hit the coconut once more, repeating the process over and over and making painfully slow progress on the husk.

“We need something faster than this,” Daniel said, dropping the rock after having hit the coconut with it for at least ten minutes; a shallow dent was all there was to show for it.

“Instead of hitting it with something smaller, maybe we could hit the coconut against something bigger than it,” Hosuh suggested, picking at the few loose fibers on the outside of the husk.

“Like what? You wanna throw it against a tree or something?”

“That could work,” Housh shrugged. He picked up the coconut and the two headed over to the trees near Stephen, taking turns hurtling the thing at a tree as hard as they could, hoping to break the fibers holding the husk in place. Stephen, grabbing the camera and turning it toward the two, began recording.

“What are you two idiots doing?” Stephen asked, laughing as Hosuh threw the coconut against the tree again.

“What does it look like?” Daniel replied, also laughing. “We’re just opening this coconut.”

“And how’s that going for you?”

“Really great, thank you very much. Shouldn’t you be laying down or something?” Daniel quipped back.

“I told you already, I don’t even feel that bad,” Stephen said.

Daniel made some comment about Stephen needing to take care of himself before he turned his attention back to the coconut that had yet to be opened. A few fibers looked to be broken, but not enough to break the husk off the coconut. All the while, the sky grew darker, clouds shadowing over the sun.

Exhaustion was easily setting in, between the exertion of trying to open the coconut, the dehydration, and the fact that they hadn’t eaten yet that morning, it was the culmination of bad things that led to worse outcomes. As the day progressed, it didn’t get any better. The sky continued to darken, but no rain fell; the coconut continued to get dents here and there, but it never opened; Stephen’s fever (he’d stopped feeling ‘just a little warm’ and admitted to the waves of heat radiating off of him) never lessened.

“This isn’t working, Dan,” Hosuh said after they’d been at it for a good while. “We need to come up with something else. This-- it isn’t gonna work.”

“All right,” Daniel agreed, “yeah, we do.” It almost felt like giving up. “We’ll figure something out-- we can do this,” he said, not only to reassure Hosuh but himself as well.

“What if we tried dropping stuff on it?” Hosuh suggested. “Like a really big rock or something like that?”

“Yeah, okay, good idea.”

Daniel and Hosuh made their way into the trees, looking for a rock large enough to crush the fibers holding the husk in place

“How about that one?” Daniel said, pointing out one of the rocks. “You think you can lift that?” He asked, knowing he wouldn’t be able to help with his arm slinged. 

“I think so, yeah.” Daniel set the coconut down, pushing up the dirt around it in hopes to keep it in place while Hosuh went to lift the large rock the best he could. Grunting with the effort, he was barely able to lift it a few inches above the coconut before he dropped it on top of the drupe, earning a distinctive cracking sound.

“Oh! Oh my God-- it cracked,” Daniel said excitedly, as he bent down and checked the coconut, the rock had rolled a bit away on the uneven ground. “It just needs one or two more!” 

Hosuh, sharing Daniel’s enthusiasm as much as he could while breathing out the remnants of the exertion, lifted the large rock once again. He dropped it on the coconut once-- twice more before the fibers of the husk had been broken enough for it to be shucked off like the husk and shank of an ear of corn. Breaking and ripping off the hairs and fibers left behind by the husk, the two were finally able to strip the drupe naked, leaving just the familiar spherical shape that looked like it could have been bought from a store.

With the husk gone, Daniel and Hosuh came out of the trees, going back to the rock from before.

“It should be a lot easier to open this than it was to get the outside off of it,” Hosuh said, setting the coconut down and holding it in place for Daniel. With one harsh hit to the ridge of the shell, the coconut easily cracked in two-- Hosuh quickly turned up the two halves to save as much of the water from splashing onto the sand as possible.

The three ended up sharing the coconut water then, not wanting to risk spilling any of it trying to pour it into a bottle and needing to drink something soon, anyhow. Needing to eat as well-- and knowing that fresh coconut wouldn’t keep long-- they also ate half of the white meat from the drupe, enjoying the flavor of something other than days-old fish.

“You guys OD’d on coconut or something?” Daniel teased when he noticed the very blank looks on both his friends’ faces. “Seriously, is something wrong?”

Hosuh was the first to speak up. “Sorry, Dan,” he said, earning a noncommittal hum from Stephen that might have been his version of the apology. “My head is killing me. I didn’t mean to space out.”

“I just-- I really don’t feel right,” Stephen said.

There was a deafening silence. It seemed to stretch on for hours, none of the three saying a word and none of them hardly moving. “It’ll be all right,” Daniel reassured weakly, not even believing himself because frankly-- no, it wouldn’t be. “We should--”

Daniel was cut off by a rumbling sound off in the distance. He thought it was thunder at first, but the sound persisted much longer than thunder would-- a steady low hum that was slowly growing louder. Curiously Stephen and Hosuh listened, too, hearing the sound and following Daniel’s gaze upward as he looked to the source of the sound. A plane. With hopeful and frantic movements, the three jumped up, trying to draw as much attention as possible. They screamed and waved their arms, making any loud and big movements they could to catch the eye of the plane.

It continued to cruise lazily on by-- passing the island and the three so desperate for its help, blissfully ignorant. They shouted for the plane, waving until it was a small speck situating itself safely out of sight of the three. Whatever suggestion Daniel had been ready to make was lost to the disbelief and hopelessness they felt at having been so close to being found--and being passed by. 

None of them had the energy to speak again but-- silently feeling each other’s pain-- they sat back down. At that moment, it felt pretty okay to give up for a while.

Another rumble sounded in the distance, and this time it really was thunder. But it never did rain.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what?? a week late you say?? pff no,, aksjdfkjdngv (sorry ahah)

“It’s day six,” Daniel stated plainly, not feeling any enthusiasm for the recording. “It didn’t rain and we have no fire. Oh, but it gets better-- Stephen is definitely sick, got worse overnight even. Plus a plane passed us right by yesterday. It was like we didn’t even exist.” Daniel looked carefully to Stephen and Hosuh; they were preoccupied carefully unwrapping Stephen’s hands, not paying Daniel any mind.

“I don’t think anyone is going to find us, to be honest,” he admitted quietly, taking another glance at the other two as if somehow they’d heard his doubts. “It’s been almost a week already and the only sign we’ve seen so far is a plane ignoring us. I… I don’t want to tell Stephen or Hosuh. That crew that got lost in the Antarctic-- the captain kept how desperate he was to himself to keep some hope with the crew, so I think-- I want them to be able to keep hoping for rescue. I don’t know… It’s been a tough few days and I’m not sure what to do anymore. I think… I think we might not get help.”

Daniel was quiet after that, casting a careful glance at his friends again as he let his own words sink in. Did he really believe that? Did he really think that no one would find them-- that they’d lay each other under the sand like the pilot until there was no one there to bury the last one of the three to die? Did he really believe that no one would ever find them-- that their friends back home would never suspect a thing until it was too late to do anything? 

He wasn’t sure what to think anymore.

“I don’t know what we’re going to try to get done today, honestly I don’t have much motivation to try anything. Maybe Stephen or Hosuh will have some ideas or something. Until next time, hopefully,” Daniel said, turning the camera (which had had its batteries replaced) off. He let himself sigh deeply, collecting himself for the sake of the other two, and joined them as Hosuh had nearly finished getting the strips of t-shirt off.

“It’s disgusting,” Stephen moaned as the gashes were completely uncovered. The site had been red and inflamed-- like expected-- but the redness had begun to streak up his arm, looking painfully tender. Yellowing, cloudy pus was less oozing, more dripping from his hands and dirtying what coagulated blood had been trying to pass as soft scabs. 

“It looks infected,” Hosuh pointed out.

“Well, we don’t know that for sure--” Daniel began, only to be interrupted by Stephen.

“We can’t know anything for sure out here, Dan, but-- look at this,” Stephen said, jerking his hands frustratedly at Daniel to emphasize his point. “What am I supposed to do? What--”

Daniel raised his voice, to quiet whatever Stephen was going to say. “It’s going to be fine!” It was supposed to be reassuring, but it came out more aggressive than comforting.

“You keep saying that!” Stephen shouted, making both Daniel and Hosuh flinch. “You keep saying everything is going to be okay! When?! When is it going to be fine, Dan?!”

“Stephen, maybe--” Hosuh started, but was drowned out by Daniel.

“I don’t know, okay?! I can’t tell the future! I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen to us, but you sure as hell aren’t making it any easier to stay optimistic!”

“Really, Dan... I think that--” Hosuh tried again.

“We don’t need to be optimistic, what we need is to be realistic!” Stephen yelled back. “You need to start seeing things for how they are, Dan! Saying ‘it’s fine’ isn’t going to help anything-- you’re just making things worse by pretending our problems don’t exist!”

“I’m not pretending we don’t have problems!” Daniel shouted. “I know that we have problems!”

Hosuh spoke up again, trying to stop the two’s arguing. “Guys--” 

“Not now, Hosuh,” Daniel bit.

“Don’t talk to him that way,” Stephen said sharply. “He hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Stephen, it’s not--” Hosuh attempted to interject.

“I know that-- this isn’t his argument, though,” Daniel said.

“He has as much right to talk as you do!” Stephen countered, raising his voice again. “Honestly Dan, do you really think that--” Stephen’s voice wavered as he trailed off weakly, as his expression contorted into something pained and confused. “Did… you-- you really,” he tried again, attempting to force the words out, but his body wasn’t cooperating. He staggered strangely, steadied by Hosuh, who had taken a hold of Stephen’s shoulder.

“Stephen?” Hosuh asked quietly, finally noticing the quick, shallow breaths Stephen had been struggling out. “Hey? Stephen?” He shook his friend’s shoulder gently, trying to get his attention, but the other merely drifted with the motion. He let out a strangled, distressed sound before losing his balance as his legs gave out, only not falling into the sand due to Hosuh catching him. Stephen had fallen completely unconscious.

Daniel covered his mouth in surprise, sputtering a moment before speaking. “Oh my God. Stephen-- oh my God, is he okay? I’m so sorry. Stephen wake up I’m sorry--” he was interrupted.

“Dan,” Hosuh said, irritated at the incessant apologies: did sorry only matter when the other person was unconscious? “Your fight doesn’t matter right now-- he’s burning up. Stop apologizing and help me.” Daniel simply nodded an ‘okay’ and aided Hosuh in carrying Stephen back up the beach into the shade the best he could using only one arm.

The silence between them was agonizing as they settled Stephen down gently, minding the bags right by them. Despite wanting to express that he really was sorry, Daniel said nothing as Housh told him to wet some of the clothes from the bag (“--we should try to bring his fever down if we can.”).

Daniel did as he was told, albeit anxiously. He was still angry, that was for sure, but the anger had been covered in a layer of worry, making Daniel feel uncomfortable, fidgety, and just horrible overall. He stood by most of what he’d said, but telling the other two that things would be all right was supposed to help and give them hope, not start a fight.

Soaking the cloth Daniel barely dared wonder what else could go wrong, as if the world would hear his thoughts and dish out something new for the three of them. 

He made his way back up the beach to Hosuh and Stephen (who was still out), carrying the dripping cloth with him. Hosuh had taken their half-filled water bottle and was trying to coax a few sips out of their unresponsive friend.

“Hosuh, I really am sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen, I didn’t know that--”

“He’s dehydrated Dan,” Hosuh interrupted, “and sick and we’re all stressed. I don’t think it’s your fault-- I don’t think it helped either though. Besides, you owe him an apology, not me.” He brought the bottle away from Stephen’s face, content with the little bit he could force Stephen to drink.

“Yeah,” Daniel sighed, studying Stephen’s still, flushed face. If not for the circumstances, he might have almost looked peaceful, but the stark paleness contrasted the darkness nestled underneath his eyes. Daniel placed the cloth over Stephen's forehead, hoping it would help at least some. He wasn’t hydrated enough to sweat much, giving off the illusion of just an exhausted sleep.

“I hate it when you guys fight,” Hosuh said, not meeting Daniel’s eyes as he watched Stephen’s sporadic breaths.

“I know. I hate it, too.”

“I wish you wouldn’t,” he said, “I heard you the other day, too. When I was getting wood-- I heard you guys yelling about something.” 

“Sorry.”

Hosuh dropped his head into his hands. “...Okay,” he said. But he didn’t pick his head back up, opting to keep his palms pressed over his eyes and not moving much. The silence stretched on between them uncomfortably, feeling as loud as the arguments and as heavy as the weight of their worries.

“You okay?” Daniel asked quietly. Hosuh shook his head. “What’s wrong?”

“Look around, Dan,” he replied, his voice lowered to Daniel’s. “We’re still here. Yesterday might have been our only chance to get out of here… and now Stephen…” he trailed off. “What if,” he paused wetting his lips to avoid finishing the thought. “What if your last conversation with him was your fighting?”

Daniel let his eyes trail over back to Stephen, he looked much the same-- with uneven breathing, looking terribly pale, and uncovered hands (still looking raw with infection and dripping with pus). 

“What are you implying?” Daniel asked, but he knew well enough.

“Well,” Hosuh floundered around for the right words, picking up his head lightly, “look at him.” Hosuh let head back down into his hands. 

“He’s going to be fine,” Daniel said, feeling sick of the words, “we’re going to be okay.”

“Please… stop saying that, Dan.”

“Right…” Picking up the strips of t-shirt that had been cast aside, Daniel stood up, offering a quick, stiff: “I’ll go clean these,” and heading down the beach to do just that, not waiting for a reply.

Daniel lowered the strips of cloth into the water, cleaning them out. He watched the dried blood flake off and dissolve into the water, it stirred up the sand and clouded the water. Daniel had to pull the cloths out and inspect it, dipping the bloodstained strips back into the water and repeating the process until he was happy with it-- until he’d calmed down enough to go back to the two.

When Daniel had gone back, he found Stephen hadn’t moved (he hadn’t been surprised, just a bit disappointed) and Hosuh had laid next to him, with his hands over his eyes. Daniel just stood and studied the two for a few moments before he spoke up.

“Hosuh I need you to help me with Stephen,” he said, “I’d do it myself but,” he motioned to his slinged arm “you know.”

“Okay… just-- give me a second.” Hosuh made no move to get up at first, but eventually, he moved his hands and-- squinting against the sun-- took the cloths from Daniel’s hands to wrap them around Stephen’s. 

The day crept by slowly, and it was quiet, anxious even. The two had taken to nursing Stephen the best they could-- there wasn’t much they could do besides keeping the cloth on his head wet and pretending that it would help while they tried to keep Stephen as hydrated as possible. 

Stephen had woken up a few times throughout the day-- never coherent enough to do much of anything, though. His glassy, hazed over eyes would crack open and he’d let out a few slurred mumblings and a pained moan or two before letting them flutter closed again. It was those times that Daniel and Hosuh got Stephen to drink a little more of the water and even eat a few bites of the coconut. Watching over Stephen was more taxing than either of the two had expected, but it was necessary.

By the time the sun had decided to settle itself comfortably on the horizon most of the water had disappeared.

\--------

Daniel couldn’t sleep that night. He was drained, that was for sure, but despite how heavy his eyelids felt, they wouldn’t stay closed for more than-- at most-- ten minutes at a time. Too many thoughts buzzed around in Daniel’s mind; some urged him to sleep others had him convinced that closing his eyes for too long would ensure Stephen never opened his again.

“Hosuh?” he whispered, “Hosuh, you awake still?” There was no reply-- and why would there be? Hosuh had fallen asleep near-immediately after having laid down on the other side of Stephen. 

“I want to go home,” Daniel said aloud to no one, keeping his voice down. “I want to go home,” he repeated, a little louder. “I just want to go home. That’s-- that’s all… I just want to be home. I want to--” Daniel froze when he heard Hosuh stir. 

“Did y’say something, Dan?” Hosuh asked sleepily, looking hardly awake at all.

“No,” he lied, “nothing important… I just-- I can’t sleep.”

Hosuh replied with a tired hum as he got up and stumbled over to where Daniel was, plopping himself down next to him and putting his hand on Daniel’s. He hoped it was comforting, but was too exhausted to check, taking Daniel’s hand gently grasping back as permission to sleep again.

It did help Daniel some-- to know that Hosuh wasn’t upset with him, at least not upset enough to refuse to help him sleep. If he’d had mobility in his other shoulder, Daniel would have taken Stephen’s hand, too. But he didn’t, so he resolved that he’d apologize (for the fight, for the words they’d said, for everything, really) next time Stephen woke up-- not the frantic sorries he’d given when Stephen first passed out, but a real apology.

With Hosuh’s hand in his own, Daniel thought over how he’d word his apology until he finally fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies about the (vErYY) late update and the fact that this chapter is shorttt, school keeps me busy and I have about 93846 other excuses, but here it is nonetheless. Thanks to the people telling me to take my time, I really appreciate you all!! AnYway,,,, enjoy!

Daniel didn’t touch the camera that morning. It seemed like a waste of time at that point. When Daniel and Hosuh woke up that morning Daniel gave the last few sips of water to the still very fever-stricken Stephen while Hosuh waited out a splitting headache. 

“Hey Hosuh,” Daniel said, making sure to keep his voice low. He took Hosuh’s barely audible hum as directive to continue, “we should go get more glass and try the fire again-- and maybe get that other coconut we left behind.”

“Now?”

“No, no,” Daniel reassured, “we don’t have to go now. Just, whenever you’re ready.” 

Neither said a word for a long moment and Daniel wondered if he was supposed to break the silence or keep quiet for his friend’s sake. He wondered if Hosuh was angry with him-- he couldn't really tell even after Hosuh had gotten up to comfort him last night. Did Hosuh even remember getting up? Maybe not, but they hadn’t talked about it.

“Dan, Do we have any water left?” Hosuh asked.

“No, I gave it to Stephen,” Daniel replied.

“Oh, all right.” 

Instead of letting his mind wander and drive him crazy, Daniel busied himself by tending to Stephen as he waited. He went to re-wetting the cloth on Stephen’s forehead and-- noting that Stephen seemed to be doing no better-- decided to carefully remove Stephen’s shirt. It wasn’t sticky with sweat like it should have been for someone with a fever. He went and soaked that shirt, too, then rang it out and balled it up before sponging Stephen down with it in some attempt to bring down his temperature and to clean the sand off of him.

It wasn’t too effective in either sense, but Stephen had let his eyes slip open for a moment, not seeming to look at anything. 

“Hey, Stephen,” Daniel prompted, waiting as Stephen’s eyes lazily wandered over to look at him. “Hey,” he greeted again, eliciting only a confused whine. Daniel looked a moment off into the trees, recounting his thoughts and all the words that he prepared the previous night.

“Stephen, I wanted to say that--” looking back to his friend, he found Stephen was no longer awake. “...All right, get some rest then,” he mumbled, “I’ll just tell you when you get better, okay?” 

There was no reply. Not that Daniel had been expecting one-- it would have been a nice surprise, however.

It was only a little while later that Hosuh said he was finally ready to leave, much to Daniel’s relief.

Gathering their bags, the two checked to make sure they had everything they’d need: the last of their fish (which, stretched thin enough, could probably last them the rest of the day), the empty bottles-- just in case, and Daniel debated over bringing the camera, but ultimately decided against it. It was extra weight for something they likely wouldn’t use anyway. Once those things had been looked over, they checked on Stephen one more time-- seeing no difference in his condition-- and decided to head straight to the helicopter wreck first.

The glass had been a bit rustled around from the storm a few days prior, but there was still plenty there to pick from. Grabbing a few different, large pieces, Daniel tucked the glass away in his bag. They did another thorough check of the inside of the helicopter, trying to push out the lingering images of bloodied pilots and storms in hopes that they’d missed something the first time they searched it and the night they’d spent there. But it was to no avail; it was empty besides the dried blood and loose shards of glass.

Without much incident-- or conversation, at that-- Daniel and Hosuh trekked back to where they’d left the coconut before, it took a little wandering and a few wrong turns but they made their way along easily enough, spotting it unmoved from the tree.

Hosuh took his bag off and set it down on the ground eyeing up the tree and taking hold at the base of it. 

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

Hosuh went slowly up the tree, testing each foothold before putting his weight on it and gripping the bark so tight his knuckles had gone white. He nearly slipped a few times but froze when he came close to it, mostly out of fear of falling. 

There was no wind this time and no accompanying storm-- which in it of itself was both great and terribly unlucky for the three: some rainfall would’ve been great then. Hosuh got up the tree without falling and hurting himself and was able to pull to coconut free and drop it down to Daniel. Daniel didn’t catch it, figuring they’d have to hit it pretty hard again to get it open anyway. And with that, Hosuh clambered back down the tree as carefully as possible.

Once he’d gotten down, they headed back to the beach, wanting to try and get a fire going while the sun was still up, and settled that a coconut could open in the dark without good sunlight-- it didn’t matter too much as long as they opened it soon enough to get Stephen more fluids at least before the day's end. 

They set themselves up at the small pile of wood and brush they’d set up again and waited with the glass in hand.

And they waited. 

“Hey, Dan?’ Hosuh said after what seemed like a while of staring at nothing happening, holding a glass piece to the sky.

“Yeah?”

“They’re not gonna find us... are they?”

“Don’t say that,” Daniel said.

“Well, do you think someone’s coming, then?”

Daniel hesitated a moment. He watched the glass reflect the light-- it wasn’t reflecting the right way; the glass bent it all which-way leaving it not concentrated enough for much of anything.

“I hope so.”

“Are you mad at me, Dan?” Hosuh asked.

“No, why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know… you’ve been really quiet all day.”

“You’ve been quiet, too, Hosuh,” Daniel pointed out. “Are you mad at me?”

“No, I’m worried,” he replied.

“Me too.”

“And I’m scared, too, Dan. I want someone to come find us and help us.”

“I know. I do too. I want us to have fire and to have food and water. I want Stephen to be okay-- I want us all to be okay.”

“Yeah...” Hosuh agreed, rubbing at his eyes. “I want that, too.”

The conversation stalled out, quietly dying to the sound of waves hitting the beach-- the water seemed a bit more restless than it had been the other day (except for the day of the storm, however). Daniel hoped it was suggestive a storm coming, not just something about the moon-- the moon had something to do with waves, he thought. That was wrong, it affected tides, but it was fine so long as it gave him hope.

They worked on the fire well into the sunset, not wanting to give up on it until they had to. Of course, they took a few breaks throughout the day to eat and take care of Stephen, but most of their time was spent holding glass and staring at the pile that once again mocked them and their attempts. They made some talk throughout the day, but few conversations stuck for very long-- they were really only to try and make time pass by less agonizingly slow.

It didn’t work too well. 

“It’s getting dark, Dan. I don’t think it’s going to work today,” Hosuh said, lowering the glass shard.

“You’re right. Let’s open the coconut and then call it a day.”

“All right.”

The two cracked the fibers and shucked the husk the same way they had last time, dropping a rock on it and prying it off, then cracked it at the ridge and had it open. Daniel gently shook Stephen awake-- awake as he could be, anyway-- and coaxed him to drink half of the water. Daniel and Hosuh shared the other half of the coconut’s water between themselves as the sun sank lower under the horizon. It painted the sky various pinks and oranges and purples. It would’ve been a pretty sight.

The two picked absent-mindedly at the coconut, knowing they needed to eat but not really feeling in the mood to do so. Once the sun had sunk completely out of view, the two decided it would be best for them to sleep.

Daniel put the glass by their bags so as not to lose the pieces as Hosuh went to re-wet the cloth for Stephen. Just as Hosuh was placing it back on Stephen’s forehead, both he and Daniel noticed a familiar rumbling sound overhead.


	10. Chapter 10

They were tired, but they screamed.

The source of the sound soon came into view-- it was a helicopter and it may have been wishful thinking, but Daniel swore it was coming in their direction. 

It grew closer as they yelled, but it didn’t just continue by as it came closer-- the two noted it began to fly lower. Hosuh gave some excited remark, and while Daniel wasn’t listening too closely, it was comforting to know that he wasn’t just imagining the thing coming lower out of sheer desperation. It was really coming for them.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur; the helicopter landing, some people coming out-- they had flashlights, really bright ones that made it hard to see past the offensive light. It was so loud, the sound of the helicopter coupled with the silhouetted figures yelling something. Squinting past the light, it became clearer one of the figures held a first-aid kit-- it sounded like he was asking if anyone was hurt. Daniel turned the figures toward Stephen, who had woken some at the noise, but was nowhere near aware of anything that was going on. Daniel felt a hug from the wrong side send shooting pains through his arm and shoulder. He might’ve said something, maybe he shouted. He wasn’t too sure anymore, but he didn’t care; people had come for them, and they were going to be okay.

\--------

“Mr. Lim? ...Mr. Lim, can you hear me?”

Daniel opened his eyes gradually, squinting against the sunlight-- no, fluorescent light-- and hurting. He was hyper-aware of the uncomfortable presence of the intravenous fluid bag connected to his good arm and the hovering nature of who he assumed was a nurse or doctor. 

“Can you understand what I’m saying?”

“Huh,” Daniel said, “oh, yeah-- yeah, I can.”

“That’s great,” he smiled, seeming pleasant to Daniel. “I’m your doctor and attending physician. You and your friends are pretty lucky you got here when you did.” At the mention of Stephen and Hosuh, Daniel sat up a bit. “Don’t worry, your friends are all right,” he assured, “they’re being taken care of. All three of you are expected to make full recoveries, but in the meantime, I do have a few things I need to discuss with you.” The doctor picked up and looked over a file-folder, musing like it had the secrets to the universe.

“Your shoulder had been dislocated and while it looks like you tried to fix it, unfortunately the bone is fractured and still out of place-- your x-rays showed that you’ll need a fracture reduction. An anesthesiologist will be in shortly to discuss the anesthetic with you.” Daniel could only nod along dumbly, not absorbing anything the doctor said to him. “Do you have any questions so far, Mr. Lim?” 

He shook his head slowly, having several.

“All right. Once the fracture reduction is completed you should be free to go-- generally recovery time should be six to eight weeks. In that time you should keep your shoulder immobilized and refrain from any strenuous activities. If you play any sports--”

“I don’t.”

“--that should make things a little easier for you, then,” the doctor smiled again. “We don’t need to hold you overnight and there’s already a couple of people out in the waiting room ready to take you home as soon as you’re discharged.”

“There is?” Daniel asked. “Who came?”

“I’m not in the waiting room at all, I’m sorry, I was just informed by one of our interns that people had arrived to see the three that had been brought in early this morning-- that’s you. I’ll see about getting their names if I can,” he replied.

“Okay, thanks.”

“Of course Mr. Lim, I’m going to find out what’s keeping the anesthesiologist and send them here. If you need anything, that call button there will send one of our staff in to help you.”

Daniel thanked the doctor again before he was left in the room alone.

\--------

Storming as calmly as he could away from the waiting room receptionist’s desk, Jay sat himself down back next to Ann and Jo. The three of them had been in the waiting room of the hospital for hours (it was around three in the morning when they’d come in, and they’d stayed long enough to see the sun rise); more than once Jay had gone up to the receptionist asking after their friends, wondering how they were and when he, Ann, and Jo would be allowed to see them. The receptionist, while patient with him, didn’t help Jay very much. 

“They up and disappear for an entire week, and now we can even see them!” Jay fumed.

“But we know where they are,” Jo reassured, “and we know they’re safe.”

“Yeah,” Ann chimed in, despite being anxious to check on them as well, “we’ll get to see them soon, I’m sure.” 

Soon was a stretch, as it was another few hours before they heard anything. Hosuh was discharged first, prescription for pick-up in hand and a water bottle in the other. He was feeling better than he had in awhile. That was, until he was greeted by the bone-crushing hug from the three that had been waiting for him. 

“We were so worried when you guys stopped returning our calls-- and then the hotel we called said that you’d never arrived,” Jo said as they let go of Hosuh.

Hosuh took a beat to notice that it was just Jay, Ann, and Jo there in the waiting room. “Where are Daniel and Stephen? Are they still-- have they come out yet?”

Jay spoke up. “No, they haven’t. All we know is that Dan’s getting his shoulder fixed up and that it sounds like they’re going to keep Stephen a while.”

“Is he that bad?” Hosuh asked. He had begun to fidget with the end of the prescription papers, folding about an inch of the corner back and forth. “Can we see him?” The silence that followed answered his question. “Can we see Dan, then?”

“Sorry Hosuh,” Jay said, “we’re not allowed to go back and see them. We’ve been trying for a while to get them to let us through but they’re pretty strict about that stuff I guess.” Jay continued to talk and Ann or Jo said things too every once in a while, but Hosuh had tuned them out. He wasn’t sure if he did it on purpose or not-- everything was still hazy and he didn’t notice at first when he was guided to one of the waiting room chairs and was sat down. He tuned back in when someone gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“Does that sound good, Hosuh?” Jo asked.

“What?”

“I said: why don’t we go pick up your prescription and get you some real food? We can come right back when we’re done and maybe we’ll be able to visit them then,” Jo repeated. 

“Okay, yeah.” Hosuh got himself up from the chair and forfeited the papers to Jo, but he kept the bottle of water. Jo took Hosuh by the hand and threw a goodbye to Jay and Ann-- Ann promised to call if anything happened-- and the two left.

\--------

Stephen who-- with proper hydration-- had begun to wake more frequently and be more lucid, was given a general intravenous anesthetic and had his hands cut open at the original wound site. A wound debridement, antibiotic administration, and sufficient stitch job later he was settled. Unconscious and still hooked up to the intravenous fluid, but settled. It was his temperature that was cause for alarm and the recommended stay for observation at first, but further examination revealed septicemia and warranted a longer stay.

The wound debridement is what had held Jay, Jo, and Ann away for so long-- no one would be allowed to see him during any of the procedures except hospital staff, of course, but removing all the necrotic tissue took the longest. 

Once they had finally finished with Stephen, they let one person at a time to see him so as not to overwhelm him if he did wake up. And so, one by one, Jay and Ann went in to see him. Their visits didn’t last too long and Jo and Hosuh hadn’t come back yet, but it was nice to see Stephen and be reassured that he was there and he was safe. 

Similarly, Jay and Ann went to see Daniel as soon as they were allowed. They could both go in at the same time, seeing as he was conscious, albeit a bit of a loopy consciousness from the drugs. Daniel said things about appreciating Jay and Ann; he asked after Stephen and Hosuh, wondering where they were, and he even cried a bit. Neither Jay nor Ann were too sure over what, but they comforted him the best they could through his haze of fading sedatives and strong painkillers.

The two stayed in there with him for a while before someone on staff came by to speak with them about Daniel. The two were given Daniel’s prescription drugs to reduce the pain and swelling, they were told his estimated recovery time and were recommended to schedule appointments to check on his progress throughout that time, and soon after that they were made aware that Daniel would be discharged after another check for respiratory, circulatory, or O2 saturation issues.

Overall, it was hectic and confusing-- there were a lot of things they were told and terms they didn’t completely know, but they went through the motions, accepting prescription papers and nodding along to recovery information. 

On Stephen’s recovery, the two did catch the important ‘six days.’ It was littered amongst the words ‘sepsis’ and ‘standard procedure.’

“Are we going to be allowed to see him during that time?” Ann asked.

“Yes, you will, the treatment is mostly antibiotics and IV fluids-- no more surgery if we can help it. His surgeon’s PA can help you out with the details of that. I will need to go over his medical history once more before we can administer anything.”

More nodding, more words, more doctors. It was an exhausting day for everyone.

Stephen’s recovery was a long six days filled with lots of time at the hospital; watching the same movies over and over, playing chess on one of those mini, magnetic, travel-sized boards, eating the crappy food the hospital provided, and so much of just sitting there talking about everything and nothing. 

It wasn’t great for any party involved, especially when the price of the medical bills began to come in. But they knew it would all be over soon, and they would be able to put the whole thing behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh ah, sorry this took like a million years or so. Maybe I forgot about this?? Anyway, here it is now for any of ya that are still waiting :) Apologies that the end is sorta lousy, maybe they had a welcome home party afterwards I dunno.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed! ‘Cause this is finally (all officially and such) finito


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